"What are you talking about? You're from the Bloodfiend Sect, not Aderite City," the Ashcort Patriarch replied, his voice slightly raised.
He had not expected a Bloodfiend Sect member to show up out of the blue. The Bloodfiend Sect was the strongest sect in the lands, and so he knew to tread carefully. However, everyone knew the Bloodfiend Sect had quite a hands off approach regarding its members.
The Sect believed that aiding its disciples was a source of weakness, and so they mostly left them to their own when outside of the sect. If a Bloodfiend Disciple was killed, they would not retaliate unless those who did the killing also besmirched the reputation of the Bloodfiend Sect itself.
With this in mind, the Ashcort Patriarch decided to tread carefully, but would not back down in front of the youth before him.
"Have you not received the news yet?" John asked. He shook his head in a disapproving manner. "Seems like the Ashcort Clan information network is quite lacking. There's a new leader of Aderite City. Me!"
The Ashcort Clan Patriarch's eyes shot wide open upon hearing this, as a look of anger and hate appeared on his face.
"You! It was you who killed my son!" the Ashcort Patriarch raged out loudly.
The Whitecrest City Leader frowned upon hearing this. The information about the new city leader said nothing of a Bloodfiend Sect disciple. However, this would not change the plans.
"Your son tried to kill me first, but I doubt you care about such things anyways. I killed your son, and you want revenge. I can understand that," John replied, his voice calm. "However-"
"Silence!" a loud shout of anger erupted from the Ashcort Patriarch. "I do not care for your reasons. You killed my son, so I will kill you right here, right now!"
Boom!
The Ashcort Patriarch shot up into the sky towards John like a bullet. His Meridian Forging cultivation flared outwards, which caused John to raise his eyebrows slightly. However, he could tell that the Ashcort Patriarch just recently broke through, as his foundation and cultivation base was still shaky. As such, he could barely be considered as an Early Meridian Forging Cultivator.
"Meridian Forging huh? This will be more fun than I expected."
A curved saber appeared in the Patriarch's hands as he reached John. He slashed it towards John with great power, intending to kill him with a single strike.
A blood red scythe suddenly appeared in John's hands, and he swung it out in full force at the Patriarch's saber.
Peng!
Weapons collided powerfully, and both cultivators were knocked backwards from the force of the impact. John stabilized his backwards momentum immediately, and looked towards the Ashcort Patriarch, who now had a look of shock plastered on his face.
John smiled as he saw the look, as he had seen it dozens of times by now. Clearly the Patriarch was surprised that John would fight back, despite being much lower cultivation wise.
After a moment of shock, the Patriarch snapped out of it and flew towards John once again. This time however, his saber began to glow, as he unleashed a powerful battle art.
"Die!"
The Patriarch shouted out as he slashed his saber towards John. A pitch black saber image, dozens of yards long, slashed directly towards John. A smile appeared on John's face as he raised his scythe above his head.
"That's more like it," John shouted out as he slashed his scythe forward.
Crimson Blade Slash!
A blood red scythe image sliced out, its sharpness and power not losing out to the saber battle art at all.
Boom!
Battle arts collided, and an explosion of Qi radiated outwards from the impact of the two attacks. A dumbfounded look appeared on the Ashcort Patriarchs face once more, as well as the Whitecrest City Leader's face. They were both completely shocked at John's power, and his ability to fight a major realm above his own cultivation.
"How is this possible?" the Ashcort Patriarch couldn't help but exclaim in shock and disbelief.
John suddenly appeared next to the Ashcort Patriarch, his scythe slicing at a strange angle towards the Patriarch's waist.
The Patriarch angled his saber to block the scythe, just barely managing to do so in time.
Peng!
Weapons collided, and the Ashcort Patriarch was knocked backwards hundreds of yards. He quickly stabalized his body, and slashed out his saber as John was on him once again.
Peng!
Peng!
Peng!
Dozens of attacks were quickly exchanged, with neither side coming out on top. The longer the fight went on, the more shocked the Patriarch became.
John's body flashed, and he suddenly appeared above the Patriarch. His scythe slashed down with incredible power as it glowed with the light of a battle art.
Crimson Blade Slash!
Scythe and saber collided, and the Ashcort Patriarch's body shot down to the ground below, unable to negate the force of John's attack.
Boom!
His body collided with the mountainside, causing the mountainside to explode outwards. Soon after, the Ashcort Patriarch exploded out of the fallen debris, his face full of anger.
He looked towards the nearby Whitecrest Leader, who stood there motionlessly.
"What are you standing around for. Help me kill this brat, or is our alliance good for nothing already?" The Patriarch yelled out.
The Whitecrest Leader frowned as he heard this. John's power was clearly above his own, if even the Patriarch couldn't overwhelm him. However he could tell that if nothing was done, the Patriarch would most likely lose, and he could not allow that to happen.
His power was at the very peak of the Core Formation Realm, and so he could at least cause John to be wary of his attacks, as if they landed head on, they would do great damage to him.
A small sigh left the Whitecrest Leader's mouth as he appeared next to the Ashcort Patriarch.
"You be the main point of attack. I will assist you whenever I can," the Whitecrest Leader replied.
"That's enough. This brat is quite strong, but he's not strong enough to withstand our combined might. Let's go!"
The two suddenly sped towards John in tandem. A small smile appeared on John's face as he saw this.
"Both of you are ganging up on a lonely Core Formation youth? That's quite pathetic," John mocked. "Since this is the case, don't blame me for being heavy handed."
A serious look appeared on John's face as he concentrated on the technique he was about to use. It was his first time truly using it, and he wanted to see how strong it would be in his hands.
The surrounding sky suddenly turned red, as both the Ashcort Patriarch and Whitecrest City Leader felt their bodies get heavy, blood slow down, and souls become pained.
Within the blood red sky, John stared down at the two of them, his now incredibly sinister aura making him appear like a bloodthirsty demon.
Crimson Hell Domain!